Customs & Border Protection Job After IET ?

July 13th, 2012, 12:14 AM

Hello everyone i wanted to ask some questions about my future after IET ? Im really looking to get a good joba s soon as i come back from training. lots of plans for my future i have to start early. As a 35F im definitely going to have a nice edge what with my ts clearance but thing is that im a recent highschool graduate. i want to work for Customs at the airport as the pay is amazing & i get to defend my country , my state from the military and from the point of entrance ? Sounds Freaking great. would i have to wait till after i get my Bachelors in order to even meet the requirements or would my clearance + military experience be enough for a possible consideration ?

If anything can you tell me a job that i can get that my mil exp + analyst exp + the clearance ?
Edit : + I Am a Cisco Certified Network Administrator ( Got my Cert in HS)

Hello everyone i wanted to ask some questions about my future after IET ? Im really looking to get a good joba s soon as i come back from training. lots of plans for my future i have to start early. As a 35F im definitely going to have a nice edge what with my ts clearance but thing is that im a recent highschool graduate. i want to work for Customs at the airport as the pay is amazing & i get to defend my country , my state from the military and from the point of entrance ? Sounds Freaking great. would i have to wait till after i get my Bachelors in order to even meet the requirements or would my clearance + military experience be enough for a possible consideration ?

If anything can you tell me a job that i can get that my mil exp + analyst exp + the clearance ?
Edit : + I Am a Cisco Certified Network Administrator ( Got my Cert in HS)

Contrary to popular belief, clearances don't transfer. You have a clearance within the department of defense only. Any job that requires their own TS, like lots of federal agents, will do their own investigation and adjudication on a clearance determination.

Comment

There's a lot that goes into determining whether your clearance will transfer or not. This answer can get extremely technical (such as the difference between suitability and clearance eligibility) but the long and short of it is Executive order 13381 set forth that for most agencies, they are not allowed to require a new clearance unless it is actually required.

All executive agencies have access on some level to OPM's Clearance Verification System (CVS) to verify clearance. What's supposed to happen is the gaining agency will verify your clearance and request a copy of your investigative record. Positions requiring SCI, SAP or Q access (Q = top secret for department energy) get a bit more complicated as there may be waivers, exemptions, etc that exist that you aren't even aware of.

The reciprocity will be determined by the level of competence and patience of who you potentially work for. When we receive employees who claim to have clearance from another agency we check a few systems before checking CVS, that takes time, but we accept whatever is marked, as is. Clearances from another DoD agency are easy. In my experience the State Department is the hardest agency to work with. They often flat refuse to transfer anything and consider clearances their possession. "The employee left us, if they want a clearance they can get it elsewhere, we paid for it".

The DHS position youre applying for may have special requirements since it's law enforcement, such as a polygraph. The last person we had transfer to DHS took some coordination but it basically consisted of them filling out a new SF-86 for a screening and then my verification (with printed out documentation) of her clearance. A DHS office in New Jersey sent me a form to fill out, sign and attach a JPAS printout with it and her clearance was accepted.

Border patrol does a lot of hiring so they may have it streamlined. Here's the guidance from the EO as directed by OPM, who is the primary investigative agency for the fed. The back attachment is the checklist on clearance transferring between agencies. As an example, I personally would have a problem with my clearance transferring outside the DoD, beause in the last 10 years I was married to a foreign national. Because of that when going for my clearance and additional accesses, I have a note that says "PLEASE CALL", which means the agency would have to re-adjudicate my clearance.

I wouldn't be denied (except maybe by the CIA, who knows, im divorced now) but would have to go through it again.

And yes, this is some of the most recent guidance. When I dig up the dump of investigative notices/policies (publicly posted), I link it here too

Comment

In my experience the State Department is the hardest agency to work with. They often flat refuse to transfer anything and consider clearances their possession. "The employee left us, if they want a clearance they can get it elsewhere, we paid for it".

I can personally attest to this, having gone from State to DHS....I thought it would take one email to transfer the clearance over, but it never transferred and ended up taking a whole new investigation. Government inefficiency at its finest.